Football.London journalist Alasdair Gold has revealed that Tottenham’s experience of playing at neutral venues before could give them a major advantage when the Premier League season restarts.
What did he say?
As part of the top-flight’s “Project Restart”, Premier League clubs may be expected to play their remaining fixtures of the season at eight to ten neutral venues – “that is believed to be the highest number of venues that would be granted safety certificates by the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and police”.
Now, Gold has claimed that due to Spurs’ time spent playing games at Wembley and Stadium MK whilst they waited for their own new ground to be completed, that could give Jose Mourinho’s side a surprise advantage.
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He said: “Spurs have been prepared for this sort of plan perhaps without entirely realising it. Their nomadic existence in recent seasons, playing home games in the unfamiliar surroundings of Wembley Stadium and even the Stadium MK while they waited for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to be opened will stand many of the players in good stead for the challenge ahead.
“There was so much uncertainty last season with which games would be played at their new home and which had to remain at Wembley, Mauricio Pochettino had to prepare the players to be adaptable to whatever stadium they played in. Should the season resume and Tottenham have to adapt to yet more stadiums, those neutral venues might not prove as awkward a hurdle for many of Mourinho’s players and they will need to take any advantage they can get to claw back those points on their rivals.”
Advantage
Gold certainly makes a perceptive point about how Spurs could find it easier to hit the ground running than some of their other Premier League rivals.
Add to that the likelihood of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son. amongst others, finding themselves back at full fitness and recovered from their injuries, and Spurs have a great chance of really getting the first step on those around them.
And with the north London side still firmly in the race to secure European football for next season, any little advantage would be most welcomed.